Thursday, March 31, 2022

Big Ears Festival Report, Days 1 and 2

This is a quick rundown of the shows I saw at the 2022 Big Ears Festival this past weekend. A note about the photos here: I am not a photographer. For the most part, photographing (and videoing) were discouraged if not outright prohibited, so I just snapped a shot on my phone of each act I saw.

Thursday started with a wonderful duo of Tomeka Reid on cello and poet Nikki Finney. Reid's sensitive renderings and responses to the poetry made the words come alive in non-semantic ways. 

Next up was Trefoil, the powerhouse trio of Kris Davis on piano, Gerald Cleaver on drums, and Ambrose Akinmusire on trumpet. Davis is an amazing improvisor. Unfortunately, I was only able to catch the first half-hour of this show, but they announced at the beginning that the whole set was being recorded, so I am looking forward to that. (They also asked that everyone turn their phones off at the beginning for that reason, so that's why I was unable to grab a shot.)

The highlight of Thursday evening was Sparks. If you follow my playlists, you know that Sparks has been in heavy rotation for the last few months as I've become acquainted with their vast catalog. The show was spectacular....frankly, I was take aback by how truly powerful they were live. Clips on youtube don't do them justice... at all. The band was tight and punchy, and Russell Mael was in fine voice. Hell, he sounded fantastic. Kick-ass drummer, too (Stevie Nistor). This was easily one of the best rock shows I've ever seen.

I began Friday by going to the only speaking event I attended, which was Kris Davis and Julian Lage being interviewed by Nate Chinen. Very interesting discussion about the hypothetical tension between tradition and innovation.

Friday's music started off with the Craig Taborn Trio, with Tomeka Reid on cello and Ches Smith on drums and percussion. Another beautiful set that became quite trancy as it went on. It was a blast starting off a day with a show that any other time would have been the highlight of an evening. 

From there I went to Harriet Tubman, and while I enjoy their dark brooding sensibility, for some reason this didn't do it for me. It was too gaddam loud, way past the point where they needed volume to make a statement, where it was more a stance of disdain for the audience. I used to dig Melvin Gibbs with Ronald Shannon Jackson, but the bass this time was so loud it was painful (even with my old-guy earplugs). I split.

That afternoon there were two sets from Kris Davis's Diatom Ribbons, billed as a trio with Terri Lynne Carrington on drums and Val Jeanty on samples and laptop, and joined by bassist Trevor Dunn. Both sets were heavily composition-based with little improvisation. The first set was a bit tentative, but I appreciated Davis's use of synth and electric piano in addition to her regular piano--I felt she was pushing herself and the band to play outside their comfort zones. The second set was more cohesive, helped with a jumpstart by the inclusion of Marc Ribot on two tunes, Ronald Shannon Jackson's "Alice in the Congo" (what a thrill!) and "Golgi Complex" (from the Diatom Ribbons album).

I wrapped up Friday by checking out Animal Collective. Evidently they have a new album out, which I haven't heard, and maybe they played most of it? They started off with a slow groove and then... got slower.. with stretched-out longeurs where not that much was happening except Panda Bear's wailing. When a beat did happen, it perked up a bit, but there were too many long stretches that were pretty boring. I guess you had to be there. No, wait, I was there... oh, well, they didn't click for me.

That's it for the first two days! More to come...

Tuesday, March 29, 2022

Playlist, Week of 2022-03-27

 


Space Aura is space gold from Sun Ra... Amazing that they dug up these 1966 recordings from the same tour as Nothing Is... John Gilmore is on FIRE (sorry for the caps, but hell, he really is... on FIRE!)... Speaking of fire, and fiery solos, you can't do worse than Anthony Braxton and Alexander Hawkins on the Standards 2020 set... And since it's so hot in here, I may as well mention, well, just about everything I listened to this week... but especially the AMM set and one of Duke Ellington's greatest albums, The Far East Suite... any of these recordings could last a lifetime on a desert island... I just got back from the Big Ears Festival, and I'll have a brief report soon... spoiler alert: it was awesome...

Playlist 2022-03-28:

*AMM: Laminal (disc 2)
*Anthony Braxton: 12 Comp (ZIM) 2017 (Comp. 413)
*Anthony Braxton: Quartet (Standards) 2020 (discs 5, 6) (streaming)
*Taylor Ho Bynum Sextet: 2011-12-23 Cambridge, MA (CDR)
*Cul De Sac: Crashes to Light, Minutes to Its Fall
*Miles Davis: In Person Friday and Saturday Nights at the Blackhawk, Complete (disc 3)
*Miles Davis: The Complete Columbia Studio Recordings of the Miles Davis Quintet 1965 to 1968 (disc 1)
*De La Soul: 3 Feet High and Rising (20th Anniversary) (disc 2)
*Duke Ellington: The Far East Suite
*Herbie Hancock: My Point of View
*Herbie Hancock: Inventions and Dimensions
*Herbie Hancock: Empyrean Isles
*Julius Hemphill: 'Coon Bid'ness
*Henry Cow: Bremen (Cow Box Redux)
*Andrew Hill: Point of Departure
*Andrew Hill: Time Lines
*Bobby Hutcherson: Oblique
*Roscoe Mitchell Quintet: Turn
*Joe Morris/Agustí Fernández/Nate Wooley: From the Discrete to the Particular
*Sean O'Hagan: Radum Calls, Radum Calls
*Jeff Parker: The New Breed
*Popol Vuh: Affenstunde
*Popol Vuh: In den Gärten Pharaos
*RAIC: 2019-07-13 UR (CDR)
*Rolling Stones: Now!
*Keith Rowe: The Room
*Matthew Shipp: Duos with Mat Maneri & Joe Morris
*Wayne Shorter Quartet: 2002-07-12 The Hague (CDR)
*Sun Ra and His Band from Outer Space: Space Aura
*John Zorn/Simulacrum: The Garden of Earthly Delights


Reading List, Week of 2022-03-27

 

Reading List 2022-03-28:

*Mailer, Norman. Harlot's Ghost (in progress)
*Shakespeare, William. Sonnets (Arden 3rd series, ed. Katherine Duncan-Jones) (reread/in progress)
*Winn, John C. Way Beyond Compare: The Beatles' Recorded Legacy, Vol. 1: 1957-1965 (in progress)

Monday, March 21, 2022

Playlist, Week of 2022-03-20

 


Getting ready for Big Ears this week.... whoo-hoo!

Playlist 2022-03-21:

*George Adams-Don Pullen Quartet: Live at the Village Vanguard, Vol. 2 (side 1)
*Beatles: The Beatles' Second Album (Capitol CD stereo)
*Anthony Braxton: New York, Fall 1974 (side 1)
*Anthony Braxton: GTM (Syntax) 2017 (disc 1) (streaming)
*Anthony Braxton: Quartet (Standards) 2020 (discs 2, 3, 4) (streaming)
*Circus Devils: Ringworm Interiors
*Jacques Coursil with Alan Silva: FreeJazzArt
*Robert Dick/Tiffany Chang: Raise the River
*Eric Dolphy: Jitterbug Waltz (side 3)
*Hamid Drake/Sylvain Kassap: Heads or Tails (discs 1, 2)
*East-West Collective: Humeurs
*Michel Edelin's Flute Fever Orchestra: Kalamania (disc 2)
*Herbie Hancock: Man-Child
*Alexander Hawkins Mirror Canon: Break a Vase
*Joe Henderson: The Complete Joe Henderson Blue Note Sessions (discs 3, 4, 5)
*Charles Mingus: The Great Concert of Charles Mingus (side 3)
*Roscoe Mitchell: Dots/For Percussion and Woodwinds
*Jackie Mittoo: Tribute to Jackie Mittoo (disc 1)
*Jason Moran: Modernistic
*Jeff Parker: The New Breed
*Residents: Duck Stab/Buster & Glen (pREServed Edition) (disc 1)
*Matthew Shipp/John Butcher/Thomas Lehn: The Clawed Stone
*Wayne Shorter: Night Dreamer
*Wayne Shorter: 2001-07-13 Lugano, Switzerland (CDR)
*Wadada Leo Smith: The Great Lakes Suite (disc 2)
*Sparks: Propaganda (sides 1, 2)
*Sparks: Indiscreet (sides 1, 2)
*Sparks: The Rest of Sparks (side 1)
*Sparks: Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins (sides 1, 2)
*Sparks: Hippopotamus (sides 1, 2, 3, 4)
*Sparks: A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip (sides 1, 2, 3, 4)
*Sun Ra: Sun Song (side 1)
*Sun Ra: Egypt 1971 (discs 3, 4)
*Sun Ra: Lanquidity (45rpm version) (sides 3, 4)
*Sunflower Logic: Clouds on the Polar Landscape
*Steve Swell Quintet Soul Travelers: Astonishments
*Cecil Taylor Ensemble: Gottingen (discs 1, 2 streaming)
*Henry Threadgill Zooid: Poof
*McCoy Tyner: Cosmos (side 1)
*Anton Webern: Complete Webern - Boulez (disc 1)

Reading List, Week of 2022-03-20

Reading List 2022-03-21:

*Wolk, Douglas. All of the Marvels (started/finished)
*Gould, Chester. The Celebrated Cases of Dick Tracy 1931-1951 (reread/finished)
*Mailer, Norman. Harlot's Ghost (in progress)
*Shakespeare, William. Sonnets (Arden 3rd series, ed. Katherine Duncan-Jones) (reread/in progress)
*Winn, John C. Way Beyond Compare: The Beatles' Recorded Legacy, Vol. 1: 1957-1965 (in progress)

 

Monday, March 14, 2022

Playlist, Week of 2022-03-13

Amazing compositions from Anna Webber on Idiom... the trio disc features intriguing excursions with Matt Mitchell, while the large ensemble disc is striking in its originality and sheer verve... The AACM and the Blue Note label cast huge shadows over my listening these days... so, so much gorgeous music... 

Playlist 2022-03-14:

*Art Ensemble of Chicago: Sirius Calling
*Beach Boys: SMiLE (soniclovenoize reconstruction) (disc 3)
*Beatles: Kicks, Kudos, and Cash: The Making of the Silver Beatals (bootleg CDR) (disc 1)
*Beatles: Rarities (side 1)
*Anthony Braxton: 9 Compositions (Iridium) 2006 (selections)
*Anthony Braxton: Quartet (Standards) 2020 (disc 1 streaming)
*Neneh Cherry and the Thing: The Cherry Thing
*Steve Coleman and the Mystic Rhythm Society: Myths, Modes, and Means
*John Coltrane: Live in Seattle "Out of This World"
*Miles Davis: The Cellar Door Sessions 1970 (disc 5) "What I Say"
*Duke Ellington: Centenary Celebration 1999: Vol. 3: The Great Bands of the 1940s
*Duke Ellington: All American in Jazz
*Duke Ellington: His Piano and His Orchestra at the Bal Masque
*Duke Ellington: Midnight in Paris
*Gentle Giant: Interview
*Grateful Dead: Pacific Northwest ’73–’74: Believe It if You Need It (disc 1)
*Alexander Hawkins Mirror Canon: Break a Vase
*Joe Henderson: The Complete Joe Henderson Blue Note Sessions (discs 1, 2)
*Bobby Hutcherson: Dialogue
*Indigo Trio/Michel Edelin: The Ethiopian Princess Meets the Tantric Priest
*Irreversible Entanglements: Open the Gates
*Joëlle Léandre/Nicole Mitchell: Sisters Where
*Damon Locks Black Monument Ensemble: NOW
*Larry Ochs Sax & Drumming Core: Stone Shift
*Sara Schoenbeck: Sara Schoenbeck
*Wadada Leo Smith: America's National Parks (discs 1, 2)
*Sparks: Kimono My House (sides 1, 2)
*Sparks: Propaganda (sides 1, 2)
*Sparks: Indiscreet (sides 1, 2)
*Sparks: Big Beat (sides 1, 2)
*Sparks: The Rest of Sparks (sides 1, 2)
*Sparks: Exotic Creatures of the Deep
*Sparks: Hippopotamus (sides 1, 2, 3, 4)
*Craig Taborn Trio: Chants
*Henry Threadgill Zooid: Poof
*Umlaut Big Band: Mary's Ideas (disc 1)
*Mal Waldron: The Call
*Anna Webber: Idiom (discs 1, 2)
*John Zorn: The Big Gundown
*John Zorn: Calculus "Parabolas"
*John Zorn: Chaos Magick 

Reading List, Week of 2022-03-13

Reading List 2022-03-14:

*Shakespeare, William. Sonnets (Arden 3rd series, ed. Katherine Duncan-Jones) (reread/started)
*Chinen, Nate. Playing Changes (finished)
*Booth, Stephen. Shakespeare's Sonnets (ed. with analytic commentary by Booth) (finished)
*Shakespeare, William. Sonnets (1609 Quarto) (reread/finished)
*Shakespeare, William. Sonnets (ed. Helen Vendler) (reread/finished)
*Gould, Chester. The Celebrated Cases of Dick Tracy 1931-1951 (reread/in progress)
*Mailer, Norman. Harlot's Ghost (in progress)
*Winn, John C. Way Beyond Compare: The Beatles' Recorded Legacy, Vol. 1: 1957-1965 (in progress)

Monday, March 7, 2022

Playlist, Week of 2022-03-06

 


Love the Andrew Hill sides with the string quartet… it adds an extra dimension to an already rich and intoxicating music… While much of Henry Threadgill's early Zooid performances left me a bit cold (or rather, indifferent), I am really enjoying his last four or five studio recordings…. The Wayne Shorter quartet shows of the 2000s are endlessly fascinating… As much as I enjoy Miles Davis's late live shows (post-1981), I just can't get behind the dated and cheesy keyboard sounds… 

Playlist 2022-03-07:

*Muhal Richard Abrams: SoundDance (disc 1)
*Art Bears: Hopes and Fears
*Albert Ayler: Holy Ghost (disc 4)
*Beatles: Help! (2009 stereo remaster) (sides 1, 2)
*Lester Bowie: Fast Last! (side 1)
*Anthony Braxton: Creative Orchestra (Köln) 1978 (selections)
*Anthony Braxton: 12 Comp (ZIM) 2017 (Comp. 412)
*Taylor Ho Bynum Sextet: Asphalt Flowers Forking Paths
*Ornette Coleman: Sound Museum - Three Women
*Curlew: Live in Berlin
*Miles Davis: Big Fun (side 1)
*Miles Davis: 1987-09-27 Boston (CDR) (disc 1)
*Duke Ellington: Duke Ellington 1938 (sides 1, 2, 3, 4)
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: Berlin 1959 (discs 1, 2)
*Duke Ellington: The Feeling of Jazz
*Amir Elsaffar/Rivers of Sound: The Other Shore
*Stan Getz: The Complete Roost Recordings (disc 3)
*Globe Unity Orchestra: Globe Unity ‘67 & ‘70 "Globe Unity '70"
*Jimi Hendrix Experience: An Evening with the Jimi Hendrix Experience (disc 1)
*Henry Cow: Stockholm & Göteborg (Cow Box Redux)
*Andrew Hill: One for One (side 2)
*Andrew Hill-Joe Henderson Quartet: 1988-03-25 Paris (CDR) (disc 2)
*Andrew Hill Quintet: 2006-10-29 San Francisco (CDR)
*Mars Volta: Frances the Mute (side 1)
*Roscoe Mitchell/Montreal-Toronto Art Orchestra: Ride the Wind
*Hank Mobley: The Complete Hank Mobley Blue Note Sessions 1963-70 (disc 8)
*Robert Pollard: Faulty Superheroes
*Max Roach + Dizzy Gillespie: Paris 1989 (disc 2)
*Sonny Rollins: This Is What I Do
*Sara Schoenbeck: Sara Schoenbeck
*Matthew Shipp/Roscoe Mitchell: 2-Z
*Wayne Shorter: 2006-07-11 Umbria, Italy (CDR)
*Wadada Leo Smith: The Great Lakes Suite (disc 1)
*Sparks: Propaganda (side 1)
*Sparks: Indiscreet (sides 1, 2)
*Sparks: The Rest of Sparks (sides 1, 2)
*Sun Ra: The Eternal Myth Revealed, Vol. 1 (disc 8)
*Sun Ra: The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume 2 "The Sun Myth"
*Sun Ra: The Other Side of the Sun (side 2)
*Cecil Taylor: The Willisau Concert
*Lewis Taylor: Lewis Taylor
*Lewis Taylor: Lewis II
*Lewis Taylor: Stoned- Part I
*Lewis Taylor: Stoned - Part II
*Lewis Taylor: Limited Edition 2004
*Lewis Taylor:  More Lewis Taylor (CDR compilation)
*Tad Thaddock: Enigma Waffles
*Henry Threadgill Zooid: Tomorrow Sunny/The Revelry, Spp
*Lennie Tristano: Lennie Tristano
*Lennie Tristano: The New Tristano
*Weather Report: Weather Report (sides 1, 2)




Reading List, Week of 2022-03-06

Lesser Kirby, but still fun...

Reading List 2022-03-07:

*Gould, Chester. The Celebrated Cases of Dick Tracy 1931-1951 (reread/started)
*Kirby, Jack et al. X-Men: Children of the Atom, Vol. 1 1963-1966 (finished)
*Booth, Stephen. Shakespeare's Sonnets (ed. with analytic commentary by Booth) (in progress)
*Chinen, Nate. Playing Changes (in progress)
*Mailer, Norman. Harlot's Ghost (in progress)
*Shakespeare, William. Sonnets (1609 Quarto) (reread/in progress)
*Shakespeare, William. Sonnets (ed. Helen Vendler) (reread/in progress)
*Winn, John C. Way Beyond Compare: The Beatles' Recorded Legacy, Vol. 1: 1957-1965 (in progress)